I can follow what is going on in that if either D2 or H2 (strong links) =7 that D2 must equal 9 and F1 must equal 7. That is as far as I can go and I do not understand the logic that make E3 = 3.

I don't understand the notation that Scanraid used to describe the AIC.

Perhaps there is a different notation that would explain this to me in a way that I could understand. Or, barring that, somebody could explain just how to go about understanding the notation used by Scanraid. Any help or comments will be appreciated.

Either way, many thanks to the members that have always come to my rescue.

I can follow what is going on in that if either D2 or H2 (strong links) =7 that D2 must equal 9 and F1 must equal 7. That is as far as I can go and I do not understand the logic that make E3 = 3.

I don't understand the notation that Scanraid used to describe the AIC.

How's about no notation at all? First, keep in mind:

* An AIC chain alternates between strong and weak inferences.* The inference between values in a bivalue cell can be considered strong OR weak (as with all strong inferences.)

Your chain starts on a strong link. It ends with on a strong link in a different cell, and on a different value. If the start value can see the end value, then the logic inferred by the chain demands the start value cannot be in the end cell and the end value cannot be in the start cell.

Here's a graphic that might help, with the strong links in red and the weak links in green.Starting value = 7 in r8c2, ending with 8, r8c3. 8 cannot be in the start cell.

Compare this to the different notations offered and hopefully they'll start to make sense.

To answer that E3 is a (3). My question is why is it (3) since there is also a (3) in E2. Is it because e3 is a bivalve? All the cells except (1) are bivalves.

Part of the proble I was having was I didn't think about the (7) and the (8) in f1 as being strongly linked. Thanks for helping me on that. If you could tell me about my mix-up on E2 and E3, it would be appreciated.

It appears that you are under the misconception that somehow the AIC has caused [r5c3]=3. This is not the case! What's occurred is that the chain says [r5c3]<>8 if the initial assumption [r8c2]<>7 is true. There is no guarantee that the initial assumption is true!!!

I don't understand the notation that Scanraid used to describe the AIC.

You prob know by now that "=" means strong inference and "-" means weak.W/this notation the AIC will always go back and forth between strong and weak (or vice versa) with the cell designations on either side.

See this page here for Scanraid's explanation of "AIC Rule 2." They say it's for conjugate pairs but your example proves it can do more than that.

Now for my questions: what does the NL stand for in "NL notation"?Is a "PM" simply a grid showing the pencil marks, or is it something else?

I can follow what is going on in that if either D2 or H2 (strong links) =7 that D2 must equal 9 and F1 must equal 7. That is as far as I can go and I do not understand the logic that make E3 = 3.

I don't understand the notation that Scanraid used to describe the AIC.

Perhaps there is a different notation that would explain this to me in a way that I could understand. Or, barring that, somebody could explain just how to go about understanding the notation used by Scanraid. Any help or comments will be appreciated.

Either way, many thanks to the members that have always come to my rescue.

I recently got turned on to JSudoku (thanks tarek!) This program will produce a graphical representation of these chains that are easy to follow. JSudoku refers to these as "xy-x chains."